France: the Covid-19 epidemic has plunged asylum requests
In 2020, the number of asylum applications in France fell by 41% compared to the previous year (illustration).
AP - Thibault Camus
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
According to figures released this Thursday by the French Ministry of the Interior, the Covid-19 epidemic has had an impact on both asylum requests and expulsions.
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After years of increase since the migration crisis of 2015, the number of asylum applications in France marked a sharp break in 2020 with a drop of 41%.
"
Such a drop is explained by the health crisis of Covid-19 and more precisely by the impact of confinements on the activity of Guda (one-stop shops for asylum seekers) and on the movement of foreigners
", commented the Ministry of the Interior by publishing these provisional figures.
Thus, 81,669 first asylum requests were made at these counters in 2020, compared to 138,420 (-41%) the previous year.
All situations combined (reviews, Dublin procedures, etc.), 115,888 requests were taken into account last year, compared to 177,822 in 2019.
This decline in France is part of a European trend, after several months of closure of the external borders of the European Union: in Germany, the number of asylum applications has also fallen by 30%.
Decrease in evictions
The pandemic had "
significant consequences on both incoming and outgoing (migratory) flows
", also observed Place Beauvau.
Between 2019 and 2020, the expulsions of people in an irregular situation have indeed halved (-51.8%).
The statistics for this year when "
everything was destabilized by the Covid-19
" also highlight an 80% collapse in the number of visas issued: 712,311 against 3.53 million in 2019. This decline, driven by the collapse tourist visas, is mainly explained by the fall in the number of Chinese visitors.
They were by far the top visa holders for France in 2019 with 757,500 documents, and moved to fourth place with only 71,451 visas issued in 2020.
(With
AFP
)
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France
Immigration